AI Receptionist for an Orthopaedic Clinic in India: Book the Consult, Route the Fracture

2026-09-10 · 7 min read

An orthopaedic clinic's phone carries two kinds of call that must not be confused: the knee pain that can wait till Thursday, and the fall this morning that cannot. Between them sit the follow-ups, the physiotherapy bookings, the X-ray and MRI questions, and the insurance queries. This is how a receptionist that answers every call sorts them the way the doctor would, in the caller's language.

Sorting the call in the first thirty seconds

The receptionist asks what has happened and when. A fresh injury, a suspected fracture, severe pain after a fall, numbness: it follows the rule the doctor set, which is usually to direct the caller to the clinic's casualty arrangement or the nearest hospital, connect the call to the doctor if in hours, and flag the alert as urgent. Chronic pain, a second opinion, a post-surgery review: it books a consultation from the slots the doctor allows. The rules are written once, in plain words, and applied to every call.

Consultations and what to bring

Orthopaedic consultations need the reports. The receptionist asks whether the patient has X-rays, an MRI or previous prescriptions, and tells them to bring those, the way a good front desk does. It takes the patient's name and age separately from the caller's, because a son often books for a parent. It confirms the number back as ten digits and repeats the day and time.

Physiotherapy and the follow-up load

A clinic with a physiotherapy unit takes as many calls for sessions as for consults. The receptionist books physiotherapy into its own slots, handles rescheduling when a patient calls to move a session, and recognises the returning patient by number so the alert says 'Mr Deshmukh, physio, wants to move Thursday to Friday' rather than a bare number. The physiotherapist gets a WhatsApp list of the day's changes instead of a ringing phone between patients.

The questions that repeat

'Do you do knee replacement', 'is there cashless for my insurer', 'how much is a consultation', 'do you have an X-ray in-house', 'where do I park'. The receptionist answers each from what the clinic wrote, quotes only the fees the clinic chose to quote, and says the doctor will discuss anything it was not told. It never estimates a surgery cost.

Post-surgery patients

A patient discharged after surgery calls with questions and worries, often after hours. The doctor writes what the receptionist may say (wound care instructions given at discharge, when to come for review, what warrants coming in now) and what to escalate. The escalation rule connects the call to the doctor or the on-call number, and the alert marks it. The patient is never told to 'call in the morning' when the doctor would have wanted to know tonight.

What the desk sees

Patient's name, caller's name if different, ten-digit number, what has happened, urgent or routine, reports available, the slot booked, and whether it is a consult or physio. Calls the doctor took directly get a short summary. The Google Sheet holds the month, which is what the clinic manager uses to see how the physio load is growing.

Common questions

Can it tell an emergency from routine pain?

It applies the doctor's written rules for what counts as urgent, directs those calls to the casualty arrangement or connects the doctor, and flags them in the alert.

Does it quote surgery costs?

No. It quotes only the fees you write down, usually the consultation fee, and says the doctor will discuss the rest.

Can it handle physiotherapy bookings separately?

Yes. Physiotherapy gets its own slots and its own alerts, and rescheduling calls are handled the same way.

Will it tell patients what reports to bring?

Yes. It asks about existing X-rays, MRIs and prescriptions and tells the patient to bring them.

What about post-surgery calls at night?

It follows the doctor's escalation rules: answers what the doctor allowed, and connects or gives the on-call number for anything the doctor wants to know about at once.

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